I'm a few (maybe less?) days away from releasing monstrumWave89 rev 1.0, my editor for the original microwave 1!

The 1.0 release will be not offer any multi arrangement editing capabilities, but you can edit every sound parameter, rename programs with your computer keyboard, load, edit and store sound programs, wavetables and waveforms all within the editor.

I think it's safe to say that alone will keep you occupied until the future updates bring you more to spend endless hours rediscovering what is arguably one of the most capable, ground breaking rack-mount synths of the 80's - Waldorf's original 2RU Microwave 1.

monstrumWave89 covers EVERY aspect that monstrumWaveXT handles, with the addition of the ability to compare, recall and store programs from within the interface, all you do is set up your MIDI in and out devices to communicate to your connected microwave and you're locked in for hours.

The editor is complete in it's coverage all the way up to the most recent (1994?) OS update - 2.0. If you don't have 2.0, no love lost, you can still use this while you wait for your 2.00 Eprom Pair to ship from the guy on ebay who apparently happened to inherit Waldorf's stockpile :)

If you're interested in grabbing a copy when it's released, reply or PM here or contact me through the simple contact form at: contact monstrumMedia.

monstrumWave89 will be available with lifetime free updates from monstrumMedia for $79 USD. This is an absolute steal considering the fact that:

1) Nothing else exists out there that gives this amount of complete control of this classic synth within such an easy on the eye and (contrary to the alternatives) dead simple interface with this much liberation of the waveform and wavetable editing process. period.

2) sounddiver? midiquest? in 2013? Come on. Been there. Done that. Give me a break. As one beta tester said: "It's about freaking time somebody picks up the slack and release a microwave editor as extensively powerful yet incredibly coherent and nice looking as this!!"

3) Mac? Windows? Linux? Check all three, you're covered. monstrumWave89 will be available as a standalone application and VST(beta) which is fully compatible with the latest windows, OS X with compilable builds available for all modern linux distros.

There are a lot of features I have planned for both monstrumWave89 and monstrumWaveXT, mainly dealing with the wavetable and waveform editors which are already extesnively feature-rich, usable and flexible. Both editors for both branches of the Microwave series will be developed in tandem, so new features added to the wavetable editor of mw89 will also be included in my similar microwaveXT family editor, mwXT.

Customers of both editors will get all future updates, which border on obnoxiously often, for free.

My apologies for standing on a soapbox here and getting so excited but this thing is shaking windows and blowing doors open over here... I was a musician before I ever was any sort of a programmer!

Kudos to Waldorf for bringing something so compact and astounding as the original Microwave.. but something from the 80's is about to come back to kick your ass for letting dust collect on it's big red nose :)

kpsiegel

31st August 2013 04:40 AM

I've been testing it. It is a total game changer for anyone with a Microwave 1.

Oli

31st August 2013 05:56 AM

Great news. Been waiting for this.

I see you're working on a number of editors. Will there be any bulk purchase deals available?

schmuck

31st August 2013 09:52 AM

Very nice! big mw I fan, and will give this a whirl. vst support big plus for me, I hope you also have (or foresee) some kind of patch mutation/morph functionality. This is one of the synths that screams for it, happy accidents and all...

also curious to see wave edit functionality, as I never bothered to try it out with this synth.

big thumbs up!

msepsis

1st September 2013 01:00 AM

What I was thinking was offering both monstrumWaveXT and monstrumWave89 for $30USD off if bought together, or if a customer of one decides to buy the other. We'll see..

On that note what do people think of the name "monstrumWave89?" I've already had monstrumWaveXT out for a year now, which is almost at version 3.0... so I thought it might be confusing to release it as "monstrumWave1". Just a random test here, does anybody "get" the name - monstrumWave89?

I don't yet have any program morphing but it's not rocket science to do something like that. It's all just data and math. I'll add it to my to-do list as it's a great suggestion.

Thanks a lot for the comments! It's coming along. I have to finish up the manual, build a page on the web site and finish ironing out the issues.

Cheers

Oli

1st September 2013 05:48 AM

Released in 1989?

kpsiegel

1st September 2013 06:13 AM

The MW1 was released in 1989.

Rust Creep

1st September 2013 06:17 AM

Mostrum rocks my xt thanks you too

Sent from my HTC6435LVW

Neonlove

1st September 2013 12:35 PM

This is my first post here. (EDIT: it's my 2nd!)

I'm really excited about this release. I only just heard about it. I know the MW inside out, I believe. I've been juggling hardware controllers and software librarians for a while. I've sort of managed to make it work but none of them come close to the power and flexibility of this mighty synth.

I can't wait to see what you have come up with!

tastyfake

1st September 2013 12:58 PM

Awesome!
Just called up a friend who swears by his and I'm looking forward to getting to geek out with him.

msepsis

1st September 2013 09:28 PM

Here's a screenshot of the current release candidate. One more round of beta testing and some adjustments to go then I'll be packaging it up and releasing on www.monstrummedia.com!

I downloaded the demo for the Xt earlier today to take a look. Xt Shadow version?

Both of these look to be really promising and I will quite likely buy both. The only thing I can see that wouldn't work for me is having to scroll around to see the entire app. I would rather be able to resize it to fit my 13 MBP display or have a separate window for the waveform editor. At the end of the day tho all the benefits that these offer, out weight that minor issue. Awesome stuff.

Regarding the name Wave89, I do get the reference to the year it was released yes. Altho I will mention, I have noticed that people around here refer to the Microwave as the uWave on occasion. So that might be another option to consider. Call it whatever you like as long as it works I will be happy. kfhkh

TransistorRhythm

2nd September 2013 03:07 AM

That stereowidth parameter reminds me of one of the weird things I experienced with my MW - I could not modulate a sound alternating hard left and right.

My comments on this editor:

- The volume and filter envelopes should be drawable too, I think emulating knobs and sliders does nothing for a software synthesizer interface
- An indicator where clipping usually starts in the mixer. People don't alwyas understand that going overboard with the mixer causes a sort of distortion
- I would like to see a visual representation of the wave I have selected and ideally the way it morphs in the wavetable
- VSTi and AU integration
- If it works as advertised it really rocks already the way it is kfhkh

msepsis

2nd September 2013 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TransistorRhythm
(Post 9383924)

- The volume and filter envelopes should be drawable too, I think emulating knobs and sliders does nothing for a software synthesizer interface
- An indicator where clipping usually starts in the mixer. People don't alwyas understand that going overboard with the mixer causes a sort of distortion
- I would like to see a visual representation of the wave I have selected and ideally the way it morphs in the wavetable
- VSTi and AU integration
- If it works as advertised it really rocks already the way it is kfhkh

1. Maybe in time I'll offer the option to edit either a visual envelope or one control by sliders. In regard to a slider "doing nothing for a software interface"... whether it's a visual envelope or a vertical slider it's just a mouse moving X number of pixels. If the envelope gives less than 128 pixels of movement in the visual envelope you actually get *less* control than you would with a 128 pixel high vertical slider like what I've got now for the filter/amp envs for now. It's a good idea though and it's something I've given some thought to already. It's possible but wasn't a priority for the initial release to offer graphical vol and filter envelopes.

2. Already have this started and will be in the first update sent out after the initial release, maybe in the initial release if beta testing takes more than a few days.

3. You do get this to a degree in the waveform editor - you can load and edit waveforms and can visualize any assigned waveform by clicking on it's position in the wavetable visualizer along the top of the interface. The grid on the far right will update to display the waveform loaded at that position.. You can not yet visualize "morphed" waveforms, or the interpolation at any positions that do not currently have a waveform assigned to it, but it's not impossible for me to implement something like that. While what you're referring would be cool it wasn't as high of a priority in terms of giving you tools to edit waveforms with, rather than visualize what the microwave's interpolation is doing. It's a good idea though which could be worked into the workflow of designing waveforms and wavetables. If I add this in I'll give you the ability to load the interpolation between two assignments to the already existing waveform editor where you can already shape your waveforms by drawing or applying fourier transforms with sine waves of multiple cycles, etc. Obviously then you can save the waveform to a user preset and load that preset into a position of a wavetable and do this all from within monstrumWave89's interface.

4. :) VST support yes, AU support, no. There is both a mac and a windows vst which will be offered as a beta.
I'm not advertising this as a plugin by any stretch as again the VST while usable is still in beta and I do not encourage it be used for long term projects.

There is still lots of work to go with the plugin version and with the help of a bit of real-world feedback it should get better more solid and reliable. The monstrumWave standalone application as an editor is cross platform and currently rock solid and stable.

With that said my synth editors (I've made a few!) have always had the intention of being used primarily as a stand alone application intended to be used as an editor for synths that need them. Many other software packages claim to support both standalone and plugin support but lets face it most of them fall flat on their face. it's not easy to do. For that reason my software will always be primarily offered as an editor to provide a more clear interface for sound designing. Parameter automation is obviously the task of a Sequencer or DAW and not every DAW handles sysex messages sent to/from MIDI ports very as nicely, consistently as each other if they even handle sysex or midi communication at all.

So, yes there is a beta VST for both mac and windows as well as linux, but it is still currently in development. Your mileage with it will vary.

PS Dubtek- The entire interface is zoomable, there is a zoom in and zoom out within the view menu at the top of the interface. There are kb shortcuts for things like this too. All elements of the interface should look clean at any reasonable zoom level, however the interface at normal zoom level is 1623 pixels wide. I've been betatesting on a lenovo 15" at 1280x768 and zoomed out 2 clicks it fits the width of the screen perfectly w/o any reasonable readability issue.

I wanted to follow up just to keep you informed on the topics brought up. I'm very open to suggestions and ideas to take this further as I've already invested quite a bit of time in both this editor and my editor for the Microwave XT/XTk/II. I'm also working now on a blofeld editor which is similar in a lot of aspects to the Microwave series.

TransistorRhythm

2nd September 2013 01:19 PM

Cool at least you have been thinking in the areas I mentioned. What kind of technology is it built on? You cover three OS'es and the UI is scalable.

getmethough

2nd September 2013 02:46 PM

looks great! Im excited, great to have everything where you can see it!

roginator

2nd September 2013 03:21 PM

WOW ...kfhkh

makes me wanna buy Microwave I!!!!

PLEASE ...

CAN YOU MAKE AN EDITOR FOR SEQUENTIAL PROPHET VS

:) :synth:

only thing I dont understand .. WHY JP 8080 Editor .. THAT think have knobs for all functions :)

80sboy

2nd September 2013 03:51 PM

Will the parameters be mappable to midi CC's? I just picked up a Bitstream what I was going to use for the Microwave, but if I could map the knobs to this, that would be cool

thanks

Music Maven

2nd September 2013 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msepsis
(Post 9381351)

On that note what do people think of the name "monstrumWave89?" I've already had monstrumWaveXT out for a year now, which is almost at version 3.0... so I thought it might be confusing to release it as "monstrumWave1". Just a random test here, does anybody "get" the name - monstrumWave89?

"monstrumWave89" isn't really doing it for me. :-)

Why not call the Microwave I editor "monstrumWave I" and the Microwave II/XT editor "monstrumWave II/XT". That way it's really clear which editor works with which model of Microwave.

Of course, you have already been calling the XT version "monstrumWave XT." But I think people would understand the name change (to indicate that the editor now also works with the Microwave II series). Also, this way, you won't have to answer any of the "Does this work with the Microwave II?"-type questions.

Finally, I would include a space between "monstrumWave" and the model indicator (I or II/XT). So you would have:

monstrumWave I
monstrumWave II/XT

My 2 cents.

Great work, btw. It's nice to see someone is still carrying the hardware synth editor torch. I would love to stop using SoundDiver for everything. :-)

bigbongo

3rd September 2013 08:08 AM

Great news, looking forward to using this on my dusty MW1.

Oli

3rd September 2013 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Maven
(Post 9385296)

Finally, I would include a space between "monstrumWave" and the model indicator (I or II/XT).

Removing the space would make sense if the name in question was being used in the contexts you mention (in a file system, for instance). However, the Product name should be understandable by, and presentable to, end users who may have no familiarity with these technical applications.

Basically, if adding a space makes the name easier to read and understand by the author's potential customers, then that should be his primary consideration. I assume he wants to actually sell his programs, after all. :-)

Neonlove

3rd September 2013 11:47 AM

Does the editor support multi-mode fully? Including the separates tunings, outputs, panning etc.?

I'm very keen to see MQ become obsolete!

msepsis

3rd September 2013 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neonlove
(Post 9387736)

Does the editor support multi-mode fully? Including the separates tunings, outputs, panning etc.?

Not multi/arrangement support yet, but its around the corner along with a number of expansions to the wavetable and waveform editor.

In regards to the name of the software I'm sticking with monstrumWave1. My microwave 2/XT/XTk editor software is staying "monstrumWaveXT". I appreciate the input, making something is easy... it's naming it that's the hard part! :)

I just sent out the release candidate to beta testers and am waiting for some replies... if all goes as planned there might be one or two small tweaks, and the next build will be packaged with the manual and ready for release! Almost there.

yes I need an evening to put that together and make it available. I strip a ton of functionality out of the demos but at least give you enough to get a feel for the software. For now you can check out the demo for monstrumWaveXT, the functionality and layout is very similar with the addition of a few things effects, second filter, free envelope, arpeggiator, etc.

I've been keeping very busy with developing my next waldorf synth editor for the blofeld. It's incredible so far and has been exciting to work on but I do need to carve out an evening to put out both a win and os x demo rev of not only monstrumWave1 but also my Rocket editor.

oldgearguy

7th October 2013 04:53 PM

couple quick questions -

is the MonstrumWave1 editor set up to work on touch surfaces like an iPad and/or Windows Surface? Corollary - does it run on Win8 at all?

How large of a screen do you really need to be able to see and edit everything without scrolling? (especially with a touch surface).

With the appropriate MIDI routings, does the editor support editing multiple microWaves?

Is there a possibility to download a trial/demo version to test out on my particular platform? If not, would you offer a full refund if I buy it and decide I can't use it on my device?

thanks

msepsis

16th October 2013 12:06 AM

I replied to you via your email which contained the same questions as here but wanted to make this info public:

The editor works in windows 8 but not ipad or android tablets. With that said the design was not originally intended for touch devices - you have much more precision and control with a mouse. The synth isn't exactly portable either so I'm not convinced that designing for portable small screens should be a part of my game plan--I haven't given it much thought in context with this editor... you'll probably ditch your finger and grab your mouse for more precision control if using in win 8.

The interface is 1626 pixels wide, 834 high.
I'm posting a 1:1 screenshot of the latest and greatest rev (1.0.4) as of the upcoming update I'm sending to customers in a few days down below.

Currently the editor only works with device ID 0 but I will eventually make the Device ID a variable you can set from 0-127. That's not an issue and will be relatively easy to implement - there really has been zero demand for variable device IDs but I fully understand some of you have duplicate synths.

As I stated in the previous reply here there is a trial of my xt editor for mac and windows which is freely available from monstrumMedia (scroll to the bottom of the page). It is *heavily* limited but should tell you what you need to know in terms of compatibility on your system.. I have not had the time to strip features from the microwave 1 editor to make it available as a free demo but I do understand the desire to try before you buy - I certainly prefer that option as well when making software purchasing decisions. I'm about to release a waldorf blofeld editor and am beginning work on a pulse 2 editor. As soon as those are both released I do plan to go back and make a feature-stripped demo version of all of my editors.

I'm not comfortable with refunds for software as there is no way to "return" digital software.. With that said - I have done enough extensive pre-release beta testing and post release real-world customer experiences to feel 100% confident the software works and does what it advertises it does. This goes for my mw1 editor, rocket, mwXT and blofeld editors and will be the same for the pulse 2 editor. I wont release it until I fully iron out any reported bugs or operating issues with the software editor.. There will always be additional features added and all customers get these updated builds free for life. There will never be any upgrade cost.